Chapter 3. How Are You Managing Now?

How are you currently handling this onslaught of information? Probably for a while now, you have been dealing with this problem by not dealing with it— which only makes your symptoms of, or vulnerability to, information anxiety worse. Find out how you are faring by taking the following quiz. Check (
) the box for the statements that apply to you:

Do you put off answering e-mail and voice mail messages to the point that it is “getting you in trouble” with colleagues, family, and friends?

Do you have stacks of out-of-date unread newspapers and magazines in your office and home? Do you promise yourself you will get to them “one of these days”? Or have you given up and just thrown out publications without reading them?

Do you delete without reading the online newsletters you have signed up to receive? Or do you file them electronically or print them out, planning— hoping—one day to get to them?

Are you always doing three things at once or switching between tasks so frequently that you get nothing done? Or do you have trouble remembering what you did a few hours earlier?

Do you feel you never really listen to anyone anymore because your mind is always on the next thing or the last thing—or everything? Is “uh-huh” your favorite response?

Do you feel like a prisoner of technology—handcuffed to your cell phone, pager, palmtop, laptop, desktop?

Are you more irritable these days? Do you find yourself snapping at colleagues, friends, and family, or getting into arguments over nothing?

Do you fantasize about running away?

Do you go to bed feeling as though you did not get anything done, then sleep badly because you are worrying about tomorrow?